HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam’s growth slowed in the third quarter, data showed Friday, with a warning that the export-led economy could soon be caught up in Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
Vietnam is one of Asia’s fastest growing economies — GDP growth has topped five percent over the past five years — largely driven by the export of cheap goods such as Adidas trainers, Intel computer processors and Samsung phones.
Though it is expected to hit its 6.7 percent target this year, the dispute between Beijing and Washington — who have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth each others’ goods — could dent its long-term prospects.
China and the US are among Vietnam’s top trading partners.
“The trade conflict… will affect our export and import activities (and) domestic growth,” the director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam told Vietnam Television Friday.
But Friday’s numbers suggest Vietnam is — for now — faring fine despite the trade tensions.
GDP growth in July through September hit 6.88 percent, down from 7.46 percent in the same period last year, according to the GSO.
However, growth for the first nine months of the year hit 6.98 percent, the highest rate in nearly a decade, GSO said, propelled by manufacturing, which has long been a dynamo for Vietnam’s economy.
Some analysts say Vietnam could see some short-term gains from the US-China trade spat if manufacturing shifts over from China but overall, slower growth in the world’s two biggest economies bodes ill for export-led economies.
Trade frictions “could adversely impact the export performance and FDI (foreign investment) inflows to Vietnam”, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said this week as it lowered its annual growth forecast for the country to 6.9 percent from 7.1 percent.
© Agence France-Presse
